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Isolated cases and outbreaks of infection with Trichinella spp. occur frequently throughout the world, sometimes resulting in fatalities. The clinical presentations of signs and symptoms are remarkably constant for most of the species of Trichinella, but in infections with Trichinella nativa and Trichinella britovi, classical symptoms of trichinellosis may be absent. It is important to be able to correlate the clinical presentation of trichinellosis with the life cycle of these helminths in order to make an accurate diagnosis. Knowledge of the epidemiology of the disease enables the physician to identify other potential cases, since most epidemics can be traced back to a common source of raw or undercooked meat. A comprehensive summary relating the most important clinical variables is presented graphically for easy reference to the text. Symptoms and signs are considered in relation to severity of infection. Laboratory findings and diagnostic techniques, including new modalities (e.g., DNA and antigen detection), are discussed. A discussion of treatment and preventive measures concludes our review.

The L1 larval stage of Trichinella spiralis induces modification in a portion of striated skeletal muscle cell resulting in the formation of the nurse cell. This specialized host cell is completely encased in a capsule composed mainly of collagen type IV and type VI, which, in turn, is surrounded by a unique rete of vessels whose formation begins on around day 12 after intracellular infection. We investigated the possibility that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) may be up-regulated during nurse cell formation by employing immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization on synchronously infected mouse muscle tissue. Both VEGF mRNA and VEGF peptide were detected in the developing nurse cell cytoplasm from day 7 up to 16 mo after infection. In addition, VEGF was also detected in cells in the area immediately surrounding the nurse cell on days 15 and 17. On the basis of these results, we propose that hypoxia is induced by T. spiralis within the developing nurse cell some time prior to the up-regulation of VEGF, perhaps as early as day 7. We further propose, on the basis of the continued presence of VEGF in nurse cell cytoplasm, that a constant state of hypoxia cell is maintained.

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Background: Toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) is one of the most common opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. In Cuba, despite the highly active antiretroviral therapy, TE is still the most important cause of cerebral mass lesions in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The detection of Toxoplasma gondii by PCR may facilitate the diagnosis and follow-up of TE in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients by direct identification of parasite DNA in clinical samples. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a rapid PCR method using the B1 gene to detect T. gondii in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with suspected TE.

Genotypes of two different loci of the Pneumocystis jirovecii mitochondrial gene were studied in specimens from a total of 75 Pneumocystis pneumonia patients in Spain, France and Cuba. A new genotype of the mitochondrial small subunit rRNA gene of P. jirovecii (160A/196T) was identified, which was revealed to be the most common in these three countries, especially in Cuba where its proportion reached 93.8%. Our data imply that the new genotype might be circulating worldwide and also suggests that the distribution of P. jirovecii genotypes could be narrower in islands such as Cuba.

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